Lacuna

//ləˈk(j)uː.nə// noun

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A small opening; a small pit or depression, especially in bone.
  2. 2
    a blank gap or missing part wordnet
  3. 3
    A small opening; a small pit or depression, especially in bone.; A space visible between cells, allowing free passage of light.
  4. 4
    A small blank space; a gap or vacancy; a hiatus.

    ""Our young friend makes up for many obvious mental lacunæ by some measure of primitive common sense," remarked Challenger."

  5. 5
    A small blank space; a gap or vacancy; a hiatus.; An absent part, especially in a book or other piece of writing, often referring to an ancient manuscript or similar.

    "Long lacunae in this inscription make interpretation difficult."

Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    A small blank space; a gap or vacancy; a hiatus.; Any gap, break, hole, or lack in a set of things; something missing. figuratively

    "For Beatrice Nutter, there will always be conspicuous lacunae in our mutual understanding, but after almost 30 years here, the anomalies now delight rather than confound her."

  2. 7
    A small blank space; a gap or vacancy; a hiatus.; A language gap, which occurs when there is no direct translation in the target language for a lexical term found in the source language.

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin lacūna (“a ditch, pit; a hollow, cavity; a gap, defect”). Doublet of lacune and lagoon.

Next best steps

Mini challenge

Unscramble this word: lacuna